Mindful Eating Made Simple: Heal Emotional Eating & Transform Your Relationship with Food

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Before we get started with another amazing episode of Obsessed, I want to tell you about Tia Morrell-Waldon's book Obsessed with Mindful Eating. If you haven't read it, you need to go quickly to Amazon and get it. It is an amazing account that will inspire you and explores the transformative power of mindfulness and self-compassion. You know our girl, Tia, she's a certified nutritionist and holistic wellness coach. And this book is a comprehensive guide for anyone who is looking to break free from diet culture, overcome emotional eating, and cultivate a sustainable, loving relationship with food. I'm telling you, it is probably one of my most favorite books, not just because I love Tia, but because the book allows us to be kind to ourselves in our health journey. So pick it up on Amazon. The link is in the show notes. Now let's get on with Obsessed. I love myself food. How many times did you eat pizza this weekend? Yesterday. But what kind of pizza was it? Not all pizzas created equal. Right. So it was mushrooms, black olives, banana bell peppers. So good. Very, very good. Very, very good. As a baker, did you bake your crust? Ordered. Yesterday is my day off, so I prefer not to cook on my day off. I just made a salad. I made, yeah, I made a salad. I had Lou Malinati's pizza. If you're familiar, it is Chicago Deep Crust Pizza with just cheese, and it is glorious. The buttered crust, delicious, fills you up. It's comfort food for me. I was very mindful about eating my pizza. Yeah, I was too, Tia. I went through a phase of eating pizza like four times a week a couple months ago because it was the only thing that sounded good. But you're pregnant, so that's OK. Well, I mean, yes. And also, it's not an excuse to eat junk, right? I was making my pizza. It was made out of all real ingredients. It wasn't the one I threw. Domino's under the bus. That's the way. That's not real. Yeah, that's a form of being mindful. Satisfying those cravings that your body has with food that will also be real fuel and energy. There you go. Welcome to the Get Upsessed podcast. Tia Jules and myself, Mika. We want to discuss that for today's episode with being mindful. We hold Tia as our mindfulness queen. She authored the book Mindful Eating. It's either mindful eating. You guys are going to correct me. Wait, what is the name of the book, Tia? That's just mindful eating. There we go. Obsessed with mindful eating. Thank you, Tia. We want to discuss being mindful because we kind of lose sight of certain things. We're so focused on the anticipation of the future or we are reliving yesterdays. And it doesn't really cause us to be in our present moment. And that affects relationships. That affects health. It affects love. And it affects our relationship with ourselves. So it affects so many things. It affects spirituality. So we're going to talk mindfulness. I have a question. Yes. What does mindfulness mean to you, Mika? Tia, what's your next? Mindfulness for me just means I am in the present moment. Like my mind and my body are in the same place. Means that just my feelings and how I'm thinking and feeling, they're just in alignment with right now. And I'm not all over the place. I'm not like, oh my gosh, that thing that happened three months ago. And I can't, you know, oh, no, taxes are coming up in April. I'm not there. I'm right here in this present moment. And I am assertive, calm. I'm here. And so when you and I are having a conversation, I'm right here with you. And I'm not thinking of what I'm going to have for dinner tonight as you and I are talking. So I'm here. Jules? I'm listening to you, Mika. And I'm being mindful. But you do give me anxiety when he brought up taxes because I have my tax bill right here. This is a hard thing for me in the very least. And I'm not using this as an excuse or anything like that. But I have been diagnosed. I've gone through a battery test. I know everyone says they're ADHD. But I know Tia and Mika know they've seen that side of the ADHD. It is probably one of the hardest things for me to be mindful and present. I always carry with me the idea of what I have as a vision for my life, aligning myself. Make sure every interaction, everything I do is aligned with the vision for my life. But it is a battle being mindful at all times. Tia and Mika, I know are laughing inside. I would just push back a little bit. And maybe your mindfulness just looks different. Everyone is individual for where they're at. It doesn't have to be calm and present and one thought focused, like Mika, right? I'll tell you, I feel like for my mindfulness, it's barely that anymore with just being home with a toddler all the time. There's a lot of chaos going on. But I can still be mindful in the moment while feeling that stress. True. I think of it like it's so funny because yesterday I was thinking of my niece. And she's a little over two years old. And children have their children are mindful. I was thinking of her yesterday because I was on my way to go see her at her home. And I was getting excited thinking of her. And I just thought of the contrast because I got excited about some aspect of work that I have. And I had to calm myself down a little bit. I was like, oh, I'm getting too excited because I'm like, this happens and this happens and this happens and this happens and this life is perfect. And then I said, settle down. Settle down, Mika. And it made me think of my niece because she gets excited, but she's in this present moment. She is not thinking of now that I can run, soon I'll be able to take to go in a couple of years. I'll be going to kindergarten and I'll be doing this. I'll be doing that. And she's not doing that. She is in this present moment, whether she is holding your hand and painting with you, drawing with you, or picking up blocks. She is already having an expressing anger and tantrums and there's no so present in that. Yes. Or doing that. Or having, she still talks baby talk or having a conversation with her, a baby conversation with her. She is totally mindful and she's present. Her mind is not too far into the future and is not thinking about what happened the time that she fell when she tried to walk a few minutes ago. So she teaches me like being present, like that is mindfulness. It's really interesting being around a toddler. Really interesting. It is. Kids have such an ability of being in the present moment. And not only that, but moving through the hard moments that they find, maybe they did just fall and hurt their knee and then all of a sudden they're back up and doing the same thing, happy as can be. Or they don't get something that they want and they don't have that tantrum and then it's over and they're happy as can be. And it's us as adults who have been conditioned so differently than that now, who have a hard time regulating back into the present moment. We're stuck on the stuff that just happened or we're stuck in thinking about what could happen. Yeah. And whether you said it's a choice, though, it's a choice to think that to just reloop what just happened. Like you said, they fall, they bruise, or they're all tantrum and then they're over it. And so we choose in some way, we choose to stay in a certain state of mind for so long. And that is not being mindful. Because again, we're still in an anxiety mode too far or minus too far in the future. Or we're upset about what happened a couple hours ago, a couple of years ago, a couple of decades ago. So where is that mindfulness, though? Part of it is a choice. And I think the other part is a skill that you can build to be mindful. What do you think, Jules? I think it is a choice. But a lot of those people that, if you're one of these people that you are hanging onto things in the past, a breakup, a terrible situation, PTSD, there is a lot of mental health underpinnings in terms of not being able to be mindful. So I want you to know you are OK that there is help. It is a choice, but a lot of people, the way our brain chemistry is made up, I don't think a lot of people have that choice if they are in a depressive state. That's all I was going to say. But it is a choice every morning. If you don't have mental illness and there is no stigma, we celebrate people that are going through hard times. I know that kind of sounds weird, just celebrating people going through hard times. But we support people that do have those challenges. However, if you are not challenged with any mental illness, every morning you wake up, I wake up and I say to myself, I'm barely awake. I say, what am I grateful for? If I make up something, I'm grateful that I washed my face last night. That is something to be mindful and have gratitude for. It doesn't have to be huge every single morning. Yeah, it does not have to be. I washed my face this morning. Did you do that with the Organic Skin Company? Because your face is glowing, by the way. It is glowing, yes. I'm wearing the liquid foundation, the tinted oil. Oh, the oil. And we have to get Tia some of that stuff as well. Amazing. I can tell, isn't her face glowing? It is. I'm just noticing that. I think that you made a really good point about where our minds are at and trying on this lightly. There is mental illness that we need extra help to get there to be mindful. I still don't think it's impossible to get there. It's just getting there is going to take more effort, probably. I know I can speak from my past experience of it, meaning to be more effortful. And also having that mindfulness helped me overcome those moments. Don't you wish everything was more rewarding? With Rakuten, almost everything is. You can earn cash back on those new shoes you've been wanting. You can save on the next trip you book. You can cash in on groceries. Just join, shop thousands of your favorite brands, and save. And when it's time to redeem those rewards, choose PayPal, check, build points, or cash out with gift cards. So go ahead, take a trip, fill a cart, order dessert. Rakuten is a world of rewards. Join today for free. Go to rakuten.com or get the app. That's R-A-K-U-T-E-N. And seasons of that anxiety, of that depression, and having that be a tool to work with yourself in getting healthy and feeling like you can take the next step, whatever that may be for you personally. Exactly. I know for me personally, just going through so many different challenges, I have one time in life, I went and sought out those tools. I got into meditation and now meditate twice a day every day. I got into AFT tapping. I always tap on the energy points here. So I do that twice a day. It's phenomenal. I just added to my routine, aroma therapy with essential oils. So now I'm tapping with essential oils, so different blends like tranquility blend, harmony blend, thrive blend, all these different ones, calm blend, relaxation blend, sleep blend. So does that help you, Mika? Like having those different senses, bringing the different senses in, like the feel, the smell, the seeing, and I don't even know all the five senses, but just that helped ground you. Because what you're speaking about with the sense, it does get you back into that space of mindfulness, I think, or reality. But now you've tempted me. I want to know, I want you to describe, let's all the five senses. Oh, I have to go. I have to go and chat with me right now. Chat with me, please. Sight, sound, smell, touch, taste? Hearing. Did you do, yeah. Sight, sound. Oh, you did sound, OK. Yeah, I'm not the smartest podcaster in the world. However, I've never done it. You did, we're proud of you. Thank you. You get a cookie after this, OK? I'm going to eat it mindfully. But I'm so interested because I try to be mindful. I'm trying to eat healthier and eat all whole foods, incorporate whole foods into my diet. However, I really don't always eat mindfully. I'm just whatever I shove into my mouth. I think. I'm happy. That's very culturally. It's awesome. You're going to love it. I am going to love it. I'm going to give it to you. Thank you. All right, thanks for being here. Thank you. If you're shopping while working, eating, or even listening to this podcast, then you know and love the thrill of the hunt. But are you getting the thrill of the best deals? Rakuten shoppers do. They get the brands they love with the most savings and cashback. And you can get it too. Start getting cashback at your favorite stores and even stack sales on top of cashback. It's easy to use. And you get your cashback through PayPal or Check. The idea is simple. Stores pay Rakuten for sending them shoppers. And Rakuten shares the money with you as cashback. Download the free Rakuten app and never miss a deal. Or go to rakuten.com to start getting the most bang for your buck. That's R-A-K-U-T-E-N. Thanks, Ashley, for being here. You are. Don't you wish everything was more rewarding? With Rakuten, almost everything is. You can earn cashback on those new shoes you've been wanting. You can save on the next trip you book. You can cash in on groceries. Just join, shop thousands of your favorite brands, and save. And when it's time to redeem those rewards, choose PayPal, Check, Built Points, or cash out with gift cards. So go ahead. Take a trip. Fill a cart. Order dessert. Rakuten is a world of rewards. Join today for free. Go to rakuten.com or get the app. That's R-A-K-U-T-E-N. Common, right? Like, we're so worried about being productive and how busy we are that we fill our schedules so tightly that we don't take time that we're going to create a lunch. Because eating whole foods, real foods, means you have to be at home or you have to prepare the food at home to bring with you. You have to plan ahead. You have to be intentional with prioritizing it ahead of time and or scheduling it in. And our society, they don't tell us that being productive in the home is actually beneficial even though it is. Like it's not as high value as putting in an extra 10 hours of work. Which is so crazy because if you put in that time into your food, you're going to add to your life. Isn't that the point? Is it getting more time? Yeah, of course. So busy and we're eating Chick-fil-A all the time and we're doing all this stuff. What do you think is a way to start for this rest of this year and to make it more successful long term to be mindful with eating? At first, you think it's a choice. So you have to make the choice. And decide that you are worth it. Your health is worth putting in that time, setting aside certain time blocks in your schedule, whether that be to meal prep and do a few days ahead or whether that be in each day, schedule time to actually cook your meals and plan them out. I know it works different for everyone in different seasons depending on where you're at, right? And figuring out where am I and what is doable. Because you don't want to set yourself up for all or nothing. I think that we're really good at that especially in the beginning of these new years with resolutions. It's okay. Well, I'm just going to eat healthy and also describe what that means to you. What does eating healthy actually mean? Make it so that it can be doable. And recognize that just because you fell through the cracks for lunch today and you have to pick something up that's fast, doesn't mean that the whole week's crossed and you have to wait until next Monday to start again. It means that you can start again tonight at dinner. And really being able to allow yourself that grace so you are trying to make these changes because they take time. They don't happen overnight. And that's okay. It's not supposed to happen overnight. Get these big changes especially with things of the way we eat and in our society because food is not as high of a priority for people as it should be. But it should be something that you invest in, invest your time in, invest your money in and put that first because your health depends on it. I love that. I love that you said that just begin with, it's like a more of a mindset that I am worth eating healthy. Like I'm worth it. Like it's an investment. And to me, like I'm worth, like we are all worth planning ahead, eating well, thinking of prioritizing food, thinking of what are we going to have? How do we want to do this and take those baby steps? Like we are, you're worth buying the organic groceries when you can. Like you're worth adding some rich, nutrient dense vegetables and foods into an herbs into your grocery list. Like you're worth it. You're worth that extra $3 for the organic blueberries instead of the DMO blueberries. And look at where you're spending your money. If you feel like you can't buy these quote unquote healthy foods but you're running through the Starbucks drive-thru every morning, that's expensive. Buying grass-fed, real, no antibiotic beef and vegetables that are organically local grown. That's not expensive when you invest in it, but when you're investing in going through drive-thrues all the time, like that adds up so much because you're not feeding yourself for a long period of time. Those are foods that are yes, calorically dense, but they're not nutrient dense. So you're not filling yourself up. You're not actually fueling your body. And it's, yeah, taking a look at where you're actually spending your money. If you really feel like you can't do it because me and my husband, we're on one income as a family of three and we eat local grown organic everything and we eat only at home. It's very rare that we go out to eat because that's expensive. Going out to eat is expensive. Buying groceries and being able to make multiple meals is not as expensive as we've been conditioned to believe. Yeah. So I love that. You say basically assess where you are and know that it is a choice. I have a choice and where am I spending my money? I think it's okay to go out to eat, by the way. I go out to eat on my days off. I really like that. Yeah, if you have the... Great. You have a restaurant, Mika. So it's really okay to go out and eat. Let's be clear. And it is okay. If you really feel like you can't afford healthy food, then maybe it's not in this season. You don't go out to eat right now. It's just about where you want to invest your money in and get really clear with yourself and honest. And maybe you're going to feel some guilt, but maybe that guilt's not bad. Maybe that guilt is there to motivate you to actually change. Yeah. And also, if you're not able to really assess yourself and maybe seek help. Seek help of a nutritionist. Seek help of a health food expert, someone like Tia, just a health food coach. So you don't really have to do everything by yourself. If you need that temptation of Starbucks and it's such a routine, everyone has Starbucks in your office and you've got all these other systems that you're just kind of a little hardwired in, then seeking some professional help from an expert on helping to cultivate a new system, helping to cultivate new strategies. So a lot of times you try to do things on our own and it's doing things by yourself is not always the best. There's a lot of things I no longer do by myself. Like I have help in some areas so that I can thrive in my life and show up as the best version of myself. So if I had like an issue with food and being more mindful with food and to have like a more nutritious, healthier life, I would hands down hire a coach, hire an expert to bring me from where I am to a much higher level. So don't be afraid to seek outside help because every great athlete has a coach. It's an investment, right? Yes. Decide where you want to invest. And it's an investment and I love that idea. I can't do half the things I do without help. However, for talking to people that can't afford or think they can't afford to build a healthy repertoire in their own kitchen, getting help is not necessarily on their radar. So I'm wondering if TI has some go-to tips and tricks, even if you're shopping at Aldi or any place like that. What are those tips and tricks to get something on your plate that will change your life? Real food. Eat things with one ingredient. Look at the box. Mard. Look at the box if you're actually... Macaroni and cheese, two ingredients. Her buying processed foods. Look at the box. It sounds like macaroni and cheese should be two ingredients, right? But you turn that box over and you're like, okay, I can't pronounce half of this stuff in here. This list is actually all the way down the box and there's actually no cheese in here or wheat. Like what? Aldi's honestly is a great place to shop. If you can't spell it, you cannot buy it. You should not buy it. Right. Yeah, actually take the time while you're in the store to look at what you're buying. Don't worry about the nutritional facts on the label. That's just, it doesn't matter honestly and especially if you're buying real food and packaged foods that have real food in them. The nutrition label doesn't impact you actually at all. So there's no point in looking at the carbs or the protein or anything like that. Just look at the ingredients and if it's real, meaning one ingredient, you could grow it at your house or you'd know exactly where it came from. That's great. You could buy it. And keeping yourself accountable for learning how to get used to reading those ingredients, right? There's so many apps out there that are free too that you can scan these processed foods to see if they actually are healthy or not. The EWG has an app. There's one called Bobby approved. Those two I know are really, those are good apps. Those are two of ones that I use to help myself, especially if I'm in a rush and don't have the time to figure out myself like what's going on on this label. I can just scan it real quick and it'll give me a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Simple. And planning for how do, like what are the things that I do know how to do in the kitchen? For me, it took me a long time to actually learn how to cook because those skills just aren't actually handed down to us like they used to be because nobody prioritizes being in the kitchen. And so you have to teach yourself. And guess what? That's free too on YouTube. There's so much information on the internet, which can be an overload, but there's so much information on the internet that there's kind of no excuse to not learn these things and not teach yourself. And then if you are a parent, you get to bring your kids into the kitchen to learn this stuff with you. So they have less of a learning curve later in life and you're setting that foundation for them to truly be healthy and have those habits that you're struggling to relearn it yourself. I love that you mentioned those apps and you mentioned YouTube University so that you're able to be a little chef in your kitchen. And I want to just add to that because those are all great tips. There's also so many free resources for like Facebook groups. So with Facebook and some other online groups, so if you are not able to afford a health coach, a nutrition coach, then you are able to join like groups. So you've got that accountability, which is great. I have a meditation group. So we meet like every night. And so there's that accountability for meditating. And it's been one of the best things. We've had it for, wow, three years. No, two and a half years now, our meditation group. So and it's free. There's no charge. So you're able to join groups so that you are able to have that accountability for a mindful eating. And create your own. If you can't even hear that suits you. I bet you have people in your life that are desiring these changes too. 100%. This is awesome. Like I feel more mindful what this podcast episode. Thank you. I think it's not as easy as it sounds, right? It's not as easy as we make it sound. Just no, I do it. So I think it's those small steps. But thinking about how far I've come, like I in college. So that was how the mind now. I remember your mom saying she can't even believe you're eating vegetables now. Yes. I'm 30 years old. So seven years ago, eight years ago, I was shopping at like quick trip for my groceries. I was buying food at the gas station. It wasn't, I wasn't going to the farmer, the local farmer and asking him how they grow their produce, what they do to their cows and making my own bread products at home. It has taken me years to get to this point. And now I feel so confident and comfortable and this has just become a way of life for me. But it's taken years. Absolutely has taken years and there's been so many ups and downs. There's so much stuff I still have to learn and want to learn. But the point is like to set that foundation of making that habit first. Get really clear with yourself. Recognize your worth and make the decision to change. And just do one step at a time. Maybe that's those apps that we were talking about. One step down low those apps and actually look at what you're eating. There we go. Any final thoughts as you close us out? I love this. It's about having these conversations with people you love. Like I love Tia and Mika and it's not about just doing the same thing over and over again. We often do the same thing over and over again and expect the same results. If you are looking to feel better, connect on a different level with not only your food but with other human beings. It is about being mindful. It's not as easy as we're making it sound today. It is a practice. It's doing it every single day. And I'm grateful that my besties Mika and Tia are reminding me because they know I could be a ping pong ball a lot of the time. So it is about slowing down, thinking about what your vision for your life is and trying every day to be a little more mindful. And don't forget to wait and don't forget to rate, review, follow us, share it with everybody you know because being mindful doesn't mean not sharing. We need to share the Get Obsessed podcast because we are sharing inspiration in every single day and can't do it without my obsessed girls. I know that sounds bad when I say obsessed girls but the women of obsessed, even though I feel like we're obsessed girls because there's something fun, flirtatious about that and we are always learning there is no perfect life. Just get obsessed with living your best life. Love you guys. Thank you for listening to another episode of Obsessed. We're obsessed with you. Show your love by rating, reviewing, subscribing and sharing with your friends. Every time you share, you are changing someone else's life. Until we meet again, get obsessed with your life. Reggie, I just sold my car online. Let's go, grandpa. Wait, you did? Yep, on Carvana. Just put in the license plate, answered a few questions, got an offer in minutes. Easier than setting up that new digital picture frame. You don't say. Yeah, they're even picking it up tomorrow. Talk about fast. Wow, way to go. So about that picture frame. Ah, forget about it. Until Carvana makes one, I'm not interested. 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